Review: Macbeth, National Cinemas

Filmed Live at Donmar Warehouse

If you were living under a rock last year or were, who knows, dead, you might not have heard that David Tennant and Cush Jumbo performed at The Donmar Warehouse together. Thanks to its exhausting PR hullabaloo, I shall assume you, dear reader, have a passing knowledge of the sold-out, critically lauded version of Macbeth… Macbeth… Macbeth. The echo is mine, by the way. I shall explain anon.

Its West End transfer inevitably became the golden ticket of the year. A lot of money changed hands, and many people were enthralled and captivated. Many more were, of course, left disappointed. Such is the nature of theatre. Experiences are for the lucky few. Or at least they used to be. Now, mercifully, cinematic releases like this one are democratising the form.

So this is a film review. I mean, I enjoyed the show in a swanky screening room in Soho, W1. But it’s not because, in the hands of director Max Webster, this Macbeth is unapologetically 100% a work for the stage. Let others embrace screens, projection, digitisation and more. Here, we get nothing but actors… acting. So far, so Peter Brook. But, even with the best intentions, commercial forces mean you have to have a gimmick to do Shakespeare these days. Naturalism won’t do at all, I hear you cry.  Quite right, so this is where I call back to my echo… echo… (Enough, Ed.)

Sound rules here. The actors are miked up to the hilt, and, in the stage production, headphones allowed audiences to enjoy dialogue and effects stereophonically whizzing around their heads. In the cinema, thanks to, one assumes, Dolby surround sound jiggery-pokery, headphones are not required. It is still a treat for the ears. Whispers are devastating. The simplest of knocks become ominous. Breath is threatening. Music shapes the narrative, moving from traditional Scottish folk tunes to otherworldly calls to prayer. The witches are discombobulated voices, and we hear, rather than see, Macduff’s young son horrifically meet his maker.

The focus on sound doesn’t mean that on-stage action takes a back seat. Far from it. The acting is extraordinary. There are no guarantees, of course. Great actors have come a cropper in the West End of late. Look away, Kenneth Branagh and Sigourney Weaver, but Tennant gives us a misguided King believably descending into sweaty, wild-eyed insanity. Cush Jumbo, if anything, puts in a starrier turn as his wife. She is The Queen, after all. If she disappears in the latter stages of the play, there’s nobody to blame but the writer. Shakespeare commits many crimes against his female characters, but his off-hand despatching of Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly amongst the worst.

The cast is excellent all-round, uniformly worthy of praise. It’s a very Caledonian affair, with Received Pronunciation ditched for the lilt and burr of pleasing Scots accents. Despite being cut to a breezy two hours, no quarter has been given to the modernisers or ‘dumbing-downers’ except, oddly, for The Porter’s scene. Genuinely funny Jatinder Singh Randhawa puts in a sterling effort in the role, but his fourth-wall-defying lurch into contemporary stand-up feels like the only poor directorial decision of the night. Maybe it played differently in the room.

If you love theatre and curse the Gods that you couldn’t be there in person, this cinematic rendering of The Donmar’s Macbeth for the Ages is more than just a recording. It’s a thoroughly satisfying theatrical event in itself.

Written by: William Shakespeare
Directed by: Max Webster
Sound Design by: Gareth Fry
Lighting Design by: Bruno Poet
Movement Direction by: Shelley Maxwell
Fight Direction by: RC-Annie Ltd
Design by: Rosanna Vice

Macbeth filmed live at The Donmar Warehouse is in cinemas from February 5th. Further information on locations and dates can be found here.